MORRISTOWN (AP) — An East Tennessee man has been sentenced to 17½ years in prison for aggravated kidnapping and abuse of a corpse for a 2008 case in which an elderly man's left hand was severed.
According to the Morristown Citizen Tribune, 42-year-old Brice Whaley Jr. was sentenced in Morristown under a plea agreement in the kidnapping and beating death of 94-year-old Willie Lee Morgan. Prosecutors dropped a murder charge.
Police have said Morgan was held for ransom after drug dealers accused a young man who lived with him of stealing from them.
A medical examination determined that Morgan died of asphyxiation and dehydration after being pistol whipped and tied to a chair. Whaley told police he used a butcher knife to cut off Morgan's hand after Morgan had died.
Three others have already been sentenced in the case.